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Dr. Robert Daniel Goerdeler
''Robert Daniel "Rob" Goerdeler is the Chief Coroner and Chief Undertaker of the City of Columbia and is also a doctor and surgeon. '' ''Often dubbed "Gory Goerdeler" by his friends, due to his gruesome line of work. '' Basic Information. Early Life. Robert Daniel Goerdeler was born in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany on July 13, 1851. He was the third son and fifth child of Friedrich Jacob Goerdeler and Ava Madeline Gallagher. Robert's father, Friedrich Jacob Goerdeler was from Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany. Robert's mother, Ava Marie Gallagher was from Dublin, Ireland. Robert has four brothers and three sisters. Robert's father was a well-known surgeon in Chemnitz. Robert was exposed to the world of medical science from an early age. Due to this, Robert was exposed to the world of medical science. At the age of 16, Robert immigrated to the United States of America in 1867. His parents chose stay in Germany. dehouse.jpg|The Goerdeler Home in Chemnitz. FriedrichGoerdeler.jpg|Robert's father. Friedrich Jacob Goerdeler. AvaGoerdeler.jpg|Robert's mother. Ava Madeline Gallagher. The 7th Cavalry. Robert would soon enlist in the cavalry of the United States Army, a mere two months after arriving in the United States. He was later placed in the 7th Cavalry Regiment. While with the 7th Cavalry, Robert became good friends with Thomas Ward "Tom" Custer, who was then a first lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry. Tom Custer was a two-time Medal Honor recipient, he received two Medals of Honor. Tom's older brother, George Armstrong Custer, was the commander of the 7th Cavalry. In 1868, Robert fought in the Washita Campaign of the Indian Wars. At the Battle of Washita River, Robert was wounded. He suffered an arrow to the shoulder and a bullet to the leg. Tom Custer was also wounded in this battle. Robert later served on Reconstruction duty in South Carolina with Tom Custer. Both Robert and Tom later participated in the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873, where both fought in the Battle of Honsinger Bluff, and the Black Hills Expedition of 1874. Being a close friend of Tom Custer helped Robert rise through the ranks relatively quick. By 1874, at the age of twenty-three, Robert had become a second lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry. Tom Custer was appointed captain in 1875 and given command of Company C of the 7th Cavalry. Robert was alleged by some to have married an Indian woman while on the plains and had children with her. Although, this was never determined nor is it known to be true. 03618cdb129a2efb48486deb01b43ef5.jpg|Thomas Ward "Tom" Custer. Georgearmstrongcuster.jpg|George Armstrong Custer. The Battle of Little Bighorn. Robert participated in the 1876 Little Bighorn campaign of the Black Hills War with the 7th Cavalry. By then, Robert has been promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. Tom Custer served as aide-de-camp to his brother, Lt. Colonel George A. Custer. On June 25-26, Robert participated on the Battle of Little Bighorn. Tom Custer was also a participant of the Battle of Little Bighorn. During the battle, Tom was with the companies of the 7th Cavalry led by his brother. Robert was with the companies led by Major Marcus Reno. The goal of the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn was to drive Sioux and Cheyenne back onto the Indian Reservation, to eliminate dangerous tribal leaders, and reasser the authority of the US Government so that it would be possible to eventually secure the Black Hills region for prospectors and settlers. The first group to attack was Major Reno's second detachment (Companies A, G and M), conducted after receiving orders from Custer written out by Lt. William W. Cooke, as Custer's Crow scouts reported Sioux tribe members were alerting the village. Ordered to charge, Reno began that phase of the battle. The orders, made without accurate knowledge of the village's size, location, or the warriors' propensity to stand and fight, had been to pursue the Native Americans and "bring them to battle." Reno's force crossed the Little Bighorn at the mouth of what is today Reno Creek around 3:00 pm. They immediately realized that the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne were present "in force and not running away." Reno advanced rapidly across the open field towards the northwest, his movements masked by the thick bramble of trees that ran along the southern banks of the Little Bighorn river. The same trees on his front right shielded his movements across the wide field over which his men rapidly rode, first with two approximately forty-man companies abreast and eventually with all three charging abreast. The trees also obscured Reno's view of the Native American village until his force had passed that bend on his right front and was suddenly within arrow shot of the village. The tepees in that area were occupied by the Hunkpapa Sioux. Neither Custer nor Reno had much idea of the length, depth and size of the encampment they were attacking, as the village was hidden by the trees. When Reno came into the open in front of the south end of the village, he sent his Arikara/Ree and Crow Indian scouts forward on his exposed left flank. Realizing the full extent of the village's width, Reno quickly suspected what he would later call "a trap" and stopped a few hundred yards short of the encampment. He ordered his troopers to dismount and deploy in a skirmish line, according to standard army doctrine. In this formation, every fourth trooper held the horses for the troopers in firing position, with five to ten yards separating each trooper, officers to their rear and troopers with horses behind the officers. This formation reduced Reno's firepower by 25 percent. As Reno's men fired into the village and killed, by some accounts, several wives and children of the Sioux leader, Chief Gall (in Lakota, Phizí), mounted warriors began streaming out to meet the attack. With Reno's men anchored on their right by the impassable tree line and bend in the river, the Indians rode hard against the exposed left end of Reno's line. After about 20 minutes of long-distance firing, Reno had taken only one casualty, but the odds against him had risen (Reno estimated five to one) and Custer had not reinforced him. Trooper Billy Jackson reported that by then, the Indians had begun massing in the open area shielded by a small hill to the left of the Reno's line and to the right of the Indian village. From this position the Indians mounted an attack of more than 500 warriors against the left and rear of Reno's line, turning Reno's exposed left flank. They forced a hasty withdrawal into the timber along the bend in the river. Here the Indians pinned Reno and his men down and set fire to the brush to try to drive the soldiers out of their position. After giving orders to mount, dismount and mount again, Reno told his men, "All those who wish to make their escape follow me," and led a disorderly rout across the river toward the bluffs on the other side. The retreat was immediately disrupted by Cheyenne attacks at close quarters. Later Reno reported that three officers and 29 troopers had been killed during the retreat and subsequent fording of the river, with another officer and 13–18 men missing. Most of these men were left behind in the timber, although many eventually rejoined the detachment. Reno's hasty retreat may have been precipitated by the death of Reno's Arikara, Bloody Knife, who had been shot in the head as he sat on his horse next to Reno, his blood and brains splattering the side of Reno's face. Atop the bluffs, known today as Reno Hill, Reno's shaken troops were joined by Captain Benteen's column (Companies D, H and K), arriving from the south. This force had been on a lateral scouting mission when it had been summoned by Custer's messenger, Italian bugler John Martin (Giovanni Martini) with the hand-written message "Come on...big village, be quick...bring pacs" ("pacs" referring to ammunition, meaning that by this time Custer was most likely aware of the large numbers of Natives they were having to face). Benteen's coincidental arrival on the bluffs was just in time to save Reno's men from possible annihilation. Their detachments were reinforced by McDougall's Company B and the pack train. The 14 officers and 340 troopers on the bluffs organized an all-around defense and dug rifle pits using whatever implements they had among them, including knives. This practice had become standard during the last year of the American Civil War, with both Union and Confederates troops utilizing knives, eating utensils, mess plates and pans, to dig effective battlefield fortifications. Despite hearing heavy gunfire from the north, including distinct volleys at 4:20 pm, Benteen concentrated on reinforcing Reno's badly wounded and hard-pressed detachment, rather than continuing on toward Custer. Benteen's apparent reluctance to reach Custer prompted later criticism that he had failed to follow orders. Around 5:00 pm, Capt. Thomas Weir and Company D moved out against orders to make contact with Custer. They advanced a mile, to what is today Weir Ridge or Weir Point, and could see in the distance Native warriors on horseback shooting at objects on the ground. By this time, roughly 5:25 pm, Custer's battle may have concluded. The conventional historical understanding is that what Weir witnessed was most likely warriors killing the wounded soldiers and shooting at dead bodies on the "Last Stand Hill" at the northern end of the Custer battlefield. Some contemporary historians have suggested that what Weir witnessed was a fight on what is now called Calhoun Hill. The destruction of Keogh's battalion may have begun with the collapse of L, I and C Company (half of it) following the combined assaults led by Crazy Horse, White Bull, Hump, Chief Gall, and others. Other Native accounts contradict this understanding, however, and the time element remains a subject of debate. The other entrenched companies eventually followed Weir by assigned battalions, first Benteen, then Reno, and finally the pack train. Growing Native attacks around Weir Ridge forced all seven companies to return to the bluff before the pack train, with the ammunition, had moved even a quarter mile. There, they remained pinned down for another day, but the Natives were unable to breach this tightly held position. Benteen displayed calmness and courage by exposing himself to Native fire and was hit in the heel of his boot by a Native bullet. At one point, he personally led a counterattack to push back Natives who had continued to crawl through the grass closer to the soldier's positions. reno.jpg|Marcus Reno. benteen.jpg|Frederick Benteen. Custerbattlefield.jpg|Little Bighorn Battlefield. Bloody Knife.gif|Bloody Knife. Custer's Last Stand. The precise details of Custer's fight are largely conjectural since none of his men (the five companies under his immediate command) survived the battle. The accounts of surviving Indians are conflicting and unclear. While the gunfire heard on the bluffs by Reno and Benteen's men was probably from Custer's fight, the soldiers on Reno Hill were unaware of what had happened to Custer until General Terry's arrival on June 27. They were reportedly stunned by the news. When the army examined the Custer battle site, soldiers could not determine fully what had transpired. Custer's force of roughly 210 men had been engaged by the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne about 3.5 miles (6 km) to the north. Evidence of organized resistance included apparent breastworks made of dead horses on Custer Hill. By this time, the Lakota and Cheyenne had already removed most of their dead from the field. The soldiers identified the 7th Cavalry's dead as best as possible and hastily buried them where they fell. By the time troops came to recover the bodies, they found most of the dead stripped of their clothing, ritually mutilated, and in an advanced state of decomposition, making identification of many impossible. Custer was found with shots to the left chest and left temple. Either wound would have been fatal, though he appeared to have bled from only the chest wound, meaning his head wound may have been delivered post-mortem. He also suffered a wound to the arm. Some Lakota oral histories assert that Custer committed suicide to avoid capture and subsequent torture, though this is usually discounted since the wounds were inconsistent with his known right-handedness. (Other Native accounts note several soldiers committing suicide near the end of the battle.) His body was found near the top of Custer Hill, which also came to be known as "Last Stand Hill." There the United States erected a tall memorial obelisk inscribed with the names of the 7th Cavalry's casualties. Several days after the battle, Curley, Custer's Crow scout who had left Custer near Medicine Tail Coulee, recounted the battle, reporting that Custer had attacked the village after attempting to cross the river. He was driven back, retreating toward the hill where his body was found. As the scenario seemed compatible with Custer's aggressive style of warfare and with evidence found on the ground, it was the basis of many popular accounts of the battle. According to Pretty Shield, the wife of Goes-Ahead (another Crow scout for the 7th Cavalry), Custer was killed while crossing the river: "...and he died there, died in the water of the Little Bighorn, with Two-bodies, and the blue soldier carrying his flag". In this account, Custer was allegedly killed by a Lakota called Big-nose. However, in Chief Gall's version of events, as recounted to Lt. Edward Settle Godfrey, Custer did not attempt to ford the river and the nearest that he came to the river or village was his final position on the ridge. Chief Gall's statements were corroborated by other Indians, notably the wife of Spotted Horn Bull. Given that no bodies of men or horses were found anywhere near the ford, Godfrey himself concluded "that Custer did not go to the ford with any body of men". Cheyenne oral tradition credits Buffalo Calf Road Woman with striking the blow that knocked Custer off his horse before he died. Having isolated Reno's force and driven them away from the encampment, the bulk of the native warriors were free to pursue Custer. The route taken by Custer to his "Last Stand" remains a subject of debate. One possibility is that after ordering Reno to charge, Custer continued down Reno Creek to within about a half mile (800 m) of the Little Bighorn, but then turned north, and climbed up the bluffs, reaching the same spot to which Reno would soon retreat. From this point on the other side of the river, he could see Reno charging the village. Riding north along the bluffs, Custer could have descended into a drainage called Medicine Tail Coulee, which led to the river. Some historians believe that part of Custer's force descended the coulee, going west to the river and attempting unsuccessfully to cross into the village. According to some accounts, a small contingent of Indian sharpshooters opposed this crossing. White Cow Bull claimed to have shot a leader wearing a buckskin jacket off his horse in the river. While no other Indian account supports this claim, if White Bull did shoot a buckskin-clad leader off his horse, some historians have argued that Custer may have been seriously wounded by him. Some Indian accounts claim that besides wounding one of the leaders of this advance, a soldier carrying a company guidon was also hit. Troopers had to dismount to help the wounded men back onto their horses. The fact that each of the non-mutilation wounds to Custer's body (a bullet wound below the heart and a shot to the left temple) would have been instantly fatal casts doubt on his being wounded and remounted. Reports of an attempted fording of the river at Medicine Tail Coulee might explain Custer's purpose for Reno's attack, that is, a coordinated "hammer-and-anvil" maneuver, with Reno's holding the Indians at bay at the southern end of the camp, while Custer drove them against Reno's line from the north. Other historians have noted that if Custer did attempt to cross the river near Medicine Tail Coulee, he may have believed it was the north end of the Indian camp, although it was only the middle. Some Indian accounts, however, place the Northern Cheyenne encampment and the north end of the overall village to the left (and south) of the opposite side of the crossing. The location of the north end of the village remains in dispute, however. Edward Curtis, the famed ethnologist and photographer of the Native American Indians, made a detailed personal study of the Battle, interviewing many of those who had fought or taken part in it. First he went over the ground covered by the troops with the three Crow scouts White Man Runs Him, Goes Ahead, and Hairy Moccasin, and then again with Two Moons and a party of Cheyenne warriors. He also visited the Lakota country and interviewed Red Hawk "whose recollection of the fight seemed to be particularly clear." Finally, he went over the battlefield once more with the three Crow scouts, but also accompanied by General Charles Woodruff "as I particularly desired that the testimony of these men might be considered by an experienced army officer". Finally, Curtis visited the country of the Arikara and interviewed the scouts of that tribe who had been with Custer's command. Based on all the information he gathered, Curtis concluded that Custer had indeed ridden down the Medicine Tail Coulee and then towards the river where he probably planned to ford it. However, "the Indians had now discovered him and were gathered closely on the opposite side". They were soon joined by a large force of Sioux who (no longer engaging Reno) rushed down the valley. This was the beginning of their attack on Custer who was forced to turn and head for the hill where he would make his famous 'last stand'. Thus, wrote Curtis, "Custer made no attack, the whole movement being a retreat." Other historians claim that Custer never approached the river, but rather continued north across the coulee and up the other side, where he gradually came under attack. According to this theory, by the time Custer realized he was badly outnumbered, it was too late to break back to the south where Reno and Benteen could have provided assistance. Two men from the 7th Cavalry, the young Crow scout Ashishishe (known in English as Curley) and the trooper Peter Thompson, claimed to have seen Custer engage the Indians. The accuracy of their recollections remains controversial, as accounts by battle participants and assessments by historians almost universally discredit Thompson's claim. Archaeological evidence and reassessment of Indian testimony has led to a new interpretation of the battle. In the 1920s, battlefield investigators discovered hundreds of .45–70 shell cases along the ridge line, known today as Nye-Cartwright Ridge, between South Medicine Tail Coulee and the next drainage at North Medicine Tail (also known as Deep Coulee). Some historians believe Custer divided his detachment into two (and possibly three) battalions, retaining personal command of one while presumably delegating Captain George W. Yates to command the second. That they might have come southeast, from the center of Nye-Cartwright Ridge, seems to be supported by Northern Cheyenne accounts of seeing the approach of the distinctly white-colored horses of Company E, known as the Grey Horse Company. Its approach was seen by Indians at that end of the village. Behind them, a second company, further up on the heights, would have provided long-range cover fire. Warriors could have been drawn to the feint attack, forcing the battalion back towards the heights, up the north fork drainage, away from the troops' providing cover fire above. The covering company would have moved towards a reunion, delivering heavy volley fire and leaving the trail of expended cartridges discovered 50 years later.The 1920s' evidence supports the theory that at least one of the companies made a feint attack southeast from Nye-Cartwright Ridge straight down the center of the "V" formed by the intersection at the crossing of Medicine Tail Coulee on the right and Calhoun Coulee on the left. The intent may have been to relieve pressure on Reno's detachment (according to the Crow scout Curley, possibly viewed by both Mitch Bouyer and Custer) by withdrawing the skirmish line into the timber on the edge of the Little Bighorn River. Had the US troops come straight down Medicine Tail Coulee, their approach to the Minneconjou Crossing and the northern area of the village would have been masked by the high ridges running on the northwest side of the Little Bighorn River. In the end, the hilltop was probably too small to accommodate the survivors and wounded. Fire from the southeast made it impossible for Custer's men to secure a defensive position all around Last Stand Hill where the soldiers put up their most dogged defense. According to Lakota accounts, far more of their casualties occurred in the attack on Last Stand Hill than anywhere else. The extent of the soldiers' resistance indicated they had few doubts about their prospects for survival. According to Cheyenne and Sioux testimony, the command structure rapidly broke down, although smaller "last stands" were apparently made by several groups. Custer's remaining companies (E, F, and half of C,) were soon eradicated. By almost all accounts, the Lakota annihilated Custer's force within an hour of engagement. David Humphreys Miller, who between 1935 and 1955 interviewed the last Lakota survivors of the battle, wrote that the Custer fight lasted less than one-half hour. Other Native accounts said the fighting lasted only "as long as it takes a hungry man to eat a meal." The Lakota asserted that Crazy Horse personally led one of the large groups of warriors who overwhelmed the cavalrymen in a surprise charge from the northeast, causing a breakdown in the command structure and panic among the troops. Many of these men threw down their weapons while Cheyenne and Sioux warriors rode them down, "counting coup" with lances, coup sticks, and quirts. Some Native accounts recalled this segment of the fight as a "buffalo run." Recent archaeological work at the battlefield indicates that organized resistance in the form of skirmish lines probably took place. The remainder of the battle took on the nature of a running fight. Modern archaeology and historical Indian accounts indicate that Custer's force may have been divided into three groups, with the Indians' attempting to prevent them from effectively reuniting. Indian accounts describe warriors (including women) running up from the village to wave blankets in order to scare off the soldiers' horses. One 7th cavalry trooper claimed finding a number of stone mallets consisting of a round cobble weighing 8-10 pounds with a rawhide handle, which he believed had been used by the Indian women to finish off the wounded.[53] Fighting dismounted, the soldiers' skirmish lines were overwhelmed. Army doctrine would have called for one man in four to be a horseholder behind the skirmish lines and, in extreme cases, one man in eight. Later, the troops would have bunched together in defensive positions and are alleged to have shot their remaining horses as cover. As individual troopers were wounded or killed, initial defensive positions would have been abandoned as untenable. Under threat of attack the first American soldiers on the battlefield three days later hurriedly buried the troopers in shallow graves, more or less where they had fallen. A couple of years after the battle, markers were placed where men were believed to have fallen, so the placement of troops has been roughly construed. The troops evidently died in several groups, including on Custer Hill, around Captain Myles Keogh, and strung out towards the Little Big Horn River. Modern documentaries suggest that there may not have been a "Last Stand", as traditionally portrayed in popular culture. Instead, archaeologists suggest that, in the end, Custer's troops were not surrounded but rather overwhelmed by a single charge. This scenario corresponds to several Indian accounts stating Crazy Horse's charge swarmed the resistance, with the surviving soldiers fleeing in panic. At this point, the fight would have become a rout with warriors riding down the fleeing troopers and hitting them with lances and coup sticks. Many of these troopers may have ended up in a deep ravine 300–400 yards away from what is known today as Custer Hill. At least 28 bodies (the most common number associated with burial witness testimony), including that of scout Mitch Bouyer, were discovered in or near that gulch, their deaths possibly the battle's final actions. Although the marker for Mitch Bouyer has been accounted for as being accurate through archaeological and forensic testing, it is some 65 yards away from Deep Ravine. Other archaeological explorations done in Deep Ravine have found no human remains associated with the battle. According to Indian accounts, about 40 men made a desperate stand around Custer on Custer Hill, delivering volley fire. The great majority of the Indian casualties were probably suffered during this closing segment of the battle, as the soldiers and Indians on Calhoun Ridge were more widely separated and traded fire at greater distances for most of their portion of the Battle than did the soldiers and Indians on Custer Hill. Custer'sLAststand.jpg|Custer's Last Stand. Aftermath of Custer's Last Stand. After the Custer force was annihilated, the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne regrouped to attack Reno and Benteen. The fight continued until dark (approximately 9:00 pm) and for much of the next day, with the outcome in doubt. Reno credited Benteen's leadership with repulsing a severe attack on the portion of the perimeter held by Companies H and M. On June 27, the column under General Terry approached from the north, and the Indians drew off in the opposite direction. The Crow scout White Man Runs Him was the first to tell General Terry's officers that Custer's force had "been wiped out." Reno and Benteen's wounded troops were given what treatment was available at that time; five later died of their wounds. One of the regiment's three surgeons had been with Custer's column, while another, Dr. DeWolf, had been killed during Reno's retreat. The only remaining doctor was Assistant Surgeon Henry R. Porter. News of the defeat arrived in the East as the U.S. was observing its centennial. The Army began to investigate, although its effectiveness was hampered by a concern for survivors, and the reputation of the officers. From the Indian perspective, the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Bighorn had far-reaching consequences. It was the beginning of the end of the Indian Wars, and has even been referred to as "the Indians' last stand" in the area. Within 48 hours after the battle, the large encampment on the Little Bighorn broke up into smaller groups as the resources of grass for the horses and game could not sustain a large congregation of people. The scattered Sioux and Cheyenne feasted and celebrated during July with no threat from soldiers. After their celebrations many of the Indians slipped back to the reservation, perhaps sensing that the summer of 1876 would be the last of their traditional lifeways. Soon, the number of warriors who still remained at large and hostile amounted to only about 600. Both Crook and Terry remained immobile for seven weeks after the Bighorn battle, awaiting reinforcements and unwilling to venture out against the Indians until they had at least 2,000 men. Crook and Terry finally took the field against the Indians in August. General Nelson A. Miles took command of the effort in October 1876. In May 1877, Sitting Bull escaped to Canada. Within days, Crazy Horse surrendered at Fort Robinson. The Great Sioux War ended on May 7 with Miles' defeat of a remaining band of Miniconjou Sioux. Ogala Sioux Black Elk recounted the exodus this way: "We fled all night, following the Greasy Grass. My two younger brothers and I rode in a pony-drag, and my mother put some young pups in with us. They were always trying to crawl out and I was always putting them back in, so I didn't sleep much." As for the Black Hills, the Manypenny Commission structured an arrangement in which the Sioux would cede the land to United States or the government would cease to supply rations to the reservations. Threatened with starvation, the Indians ceded Paha Sapa to the United States, but the Sioux never accepted the legitimacy of the transaction. After lobbying Congress to create a forum to decide their claim, and subsequent litigation spanning 40 years, the United States Supreme Court in the 1980 decision United States vs. Sioux Nation of Indians acknowledged the United States had taken the Black Hills without just compensation. The Sioux refused the money offered and continue to insist on their right to occupy the land. The 7th Cavalry suffered 52 percent casualties: 16 officers and 242 troopers killed or died of wounds, 1 officer and 51 troopers wounded. Every soldier in the five companies with Custer was killed (3 Indian scouts and several troopers had left that column before the battle; an Indian scout, Curley, was the only survivor to leave after the battle had begun), although for years rumors persisted of survivors. Among the dead were Custer's brothers Boston and Thomas, his brother-in-law James Calhoun, and his nephew Henry Reed. The sole surviving animal reportedly discovered on the battlefield by General Terry's troops was Captain Keogh's horse, Comanche, although other horses were believed to have been taken by the Indians. In 1878, the army awarded 24 Medals of Honor to participants in the fight on the bluffs for bravery, most for risking their lives to carry water from the river up the hill to the wounded. Few on the non-Indian side questioned the conduct of the enlisted men, but many questioned the tactics, strategy and conduct of the officers. Indian accounts spoke of soldiers' panic-driven flight and suicide by those unwilling to fall captive to the Indians. While such stories were gathered by Thomas Bailey Marquis in a book in the 1930s, it was not published until 1976 because of the unpopularity of such assertions. Although soldiers may have believed captives would be tortured, Indians usually killed men outright and took as captive for adoption only young women and children. Indian accounts also noted the bravery of soldiers who fought to the death. Custerlaststandsite.jpg|The graves of Custer's men on Last Stand Hill. Recovering Tom's Body. Tom Custer's body was the most hideous sight on the gory battlefield. It was mangled almost beyong recognition. Tom's corpse lay face down, its scalp removed except for a few tufts of tawny hair on the back of the neck. His skull was crushed and arrows quilled the shattered head. Tom's body, first recovered by Robert, was rolled over. Pressed into the ground, the features were flattened and badly decomposed. Tom's eyes and tongue had been gouged away. His belly was slashed and the insides spilled on the ground. His liver but not his heart had been torn out. His thighs were split open and his genitals carved off. His right arm had been broken by a bullet, but there was enough of it left so that it was possible to see Tom's tattoo. Tom's tattoo was of "a goddess of liberty and an American flag and the initinals T. W. C. tattooed above the elbow." This tattoo was how they were able to identify Tom's mutilated body. The death toll of the Battle of Little Bighorn was high. More than 250 men were dead, along with 319 killed horses and 15 more unserviceable. Robert buried Tom's body on the battlefield. When he prepared his best friend's body for burial and buried his best friend's corpse, that is when that he knew that after he got out of the 7th Cavalry, he would become an undertaker or coroner. Robert left the US Cavalry the ssame year as the Battle of Little Bighorn, 1876. Avenging the Fallen of the 7th Cavalry. Robert had a change of plans. Instead of leaving the 7th Cavalry to become a coroner/undertaker, Robert embarked on a vendetta against the indians. He armed himself with the rifle and pistol he used at the Battle of Little Bighorn, two other rifles and three other pistols, and two double-barrel shotguns loaded with buckshot. During the next few months, Robert tracked down indians who had killed his friends at the Battle of Little Bighorn. When he found the indians he was looking for, he shot them in the knee caps first so they could not walk, he would then shoot them in the elbows next so they could not bend their arms to reach for a weapon, and then to finish them off, he would shoot them in the throat so that they would die choking on their own blood. After killing them, he would take their scalps and mutilate their bodies just as they did to his friends at Little Bighorn. By July 1877, Robert magaged to track down 39 indians who had fought at Little Bighorn and kill them all. After finishing his vendetta, Robert went back to pursuing his ambitions about becoming a coroner and undertaker. Becoming a Coroner, Undertaker, Doctor, and Surgeon. Robert did not go to medical school to become a coroner, undertaker, doctor, or surgeon. He taught himself. Robert studied the human body the same way Leonardo Da Vinci did. He used the dead bodies of criminals to learn how the human body works, he studied the organs, their functions, the muscles of the human body, how the muscles worked, etc. And he also used these bodies to practice how to prepare the dead for burial. Robert did not need to go to medical school in order to learn how the human body functions. Robert learned everything first hand, he read books and studied the human body on his own. While he never got an official degree to show that he was a "real" doctor, the community he lived in still recognized him as their town physician, surgeon, coroner, and undertaker. While Robert originally did not want to be a surgeon or doctor, his interest in medical science progressed and he began to pursure all four careers; coroner, undertaker, doctor, and surgeon. And he sucessfully achieved all four of these titles. robertgoerdeler.jpg|Dr. Robert Goerdeler Columbia. Robert first heard about the City of Columbia from a fellow 7th Cavalry veteran in 1884. When Robert first heard about Columbia, he knew that he had to find the city. In 1885, Robert had made up his decision and decided to go to Columbia. He packed up all his possessions and set out for the City of Columbia. He finally managed to get to Columbia in 1886. By December 1886, he was a citizen of the City of Columbia and was recognized as a doctor, surgeon, coroner, and undertaker in the city. He was the only coroner/undertaker in the city. His morgue was in the basement of the city's police precinct. Many of the police officers of the city believed that Robert was smuggling illegal guns into the city, but this was never proven. While in Columbia, Robert met other veterans of the 7th Cavalry who had found out about Columbia too. Robert also managed to build up a decent amount of wealth and due to him owning a sucesssful morgue and a sucessful medical practice too. After setting up in Columbia, Robert's friends began to call him "Gory Goerdeler" due to his gruesome and gory line of work. Although, while Robert's job involved blood and gore he was never seen with any blood on him. He was always seen wearing a suit that never had one spot of blood on it. drrg.jpg|Dr. Robert D. Goerdeler Departure. Robert stayed in Columbia until 1911. By then he had been in Columbia for around twenty-five years and was sixty years old. In June 1911, Robert went back to Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany to see how his homeland had changed. Unfortunately, when he arrived in Chemnitz he learned that his parents had since passed away.He stayed in Chemnitz until February 1912. He planned on going back to the United States to visit some of his fellow 7th Cavalry veterans and to visit the grave of his long-deceased friend, Tom Custer. He bought a first class ticket for the RMS Titanic's maiden voyage across the Atlantic to the United States. Robert would board the RMS Titanic in Cherbourg, France. While boarding the Titanic in Cherbourg, Robert met John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV and his wife, Madeline. Astor was apparently the richest man aboard the Titanic. Robert also met a US Army officer, Archibald Butt. Butt was a military-aide to William Howard Taft, the President of the United States of America. The Titanic's voyage was going perfectly fine until the night of April 14, 1912. Death. At 11:40 p.m. on 14 April (ship's time), lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg immediately ahead of Titanic and alerted the bridge. First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship to be steered around the obstacle and the engines to be put in reverse, but it was too late; the starboard side of Titanic struck the iceberg, creating a series of holes below the waterline. Five of the ship's watertight compartments were breached. It soon became clear that the ship was doomed, as she could not survive more than four compartments being flooded. Titanic began sinking bow-first, with water spilling from compartment to compartment as her angle in the water became steeper. Those aboard Titanic were ill-prepared for such an emergency. In accordance with accepted practices of the time, where ships were seen as largely unsinkable and lifeboats were intended to transfer passengers to nearby rescue vessels, Titanic only had enough lifeboats to carry about half of those on board; if the ship had carried her full complement of about 3,339 passengers and crew, only about a third could have been accommodated in the lifeboats. The crew had not been trained adequately in carrying out an evacuation. The officers did not know how many they could safely put aboard the lifeboats and launched many of them barely half-full. Third-class passengers were largely left to fend for themselves, causing many of them to become trapped below decks as the ship filled with water. The "women and children first" protocol was generally followed for the loading of the lifeboats and most of the male passengers and crew were left aboard. Robert chose to stay aboard the sinking ship, he refused to take a seat that could save the life of a woman or child. Astor managed to get his wife into a lifeboat safely, while Astor had to stay aboard the ship. Butt also stayed aboard the sinking vessel. Robert managed to find both Astor and Butt amongst the chaos. Robert stood with Astor and Butt near Titanic's bridge as the ship began to sink faster. As the ship's bridge and boat deck began to flood, the passengers left aboard the ship began to move back towards the stern. Robert was washed off the boat deck of the ship by a large wave. Astor was crushed by the ship's first funnel when the cables holding it in place snapped and it fell. The funnel narrowly missed Robert. It is unknown was happened to Butt. Robert made it to Collapsible B. Which was a collapsible lifeboat that had capsized. Robert clung to the side until he died of hypothermia. Since he had refused to wear a lifebelt, Robert's body sank into the icy depths of the North Atlantic. Robert's body was never recovered. Butt's body was never recovered. Astor's body was recovered. At 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after Titanic struck the iceberg, her rate of sinking suddenly increased as her forward deck dipped underwater and the sea poured in through open hatches and grates. As her unsupported stern rose out of the water, exposing the propellers, the ship began to break in two between the third and fourth funnels due to the immense strain on the keel. With the bow underwater, and air trapped in the stern, the stern remained afloat and buoyant for a few minutes longer, rising to a nearly vertical angle with hundreds of people still clinging to it, before sinking. For many years it was generally believed the ship sank in one piece; however, when the wreck was located many years later, it was discovered that the ship had fully broken in two. All remaining passengers and crew were plunged into lethally cold water with a temperature of 28 °F (−2 °C). Almost all of those in the water died of cardiac arrest or other causes within 15–30 minutes. Only 13 of them were helped into the lifeboats though these had room for almost 500 more people. Distress signals were sent by wireless, rockets and lamp, but none of the ships that responded was near enough to reach her before she sank. A nearby ship, Californian, which was the last to have been in contact with her before the collision, saw her flares but failed to assist. Around 4 a.m., RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene in response to Titanic's earlier distress calls. About 710 people survived the disaster and were conveyed by Carpathia to New York, Titanic's original destination, while 1,500 people lost their lives. Carpathia's captain described the place as an ice field that had included 20 large bergs measuring up to 200 feet (61 m) high and numerous smaller bergs, as well as ice floes and debris from Titanic; passengers described being in the middle of a vast white plain of ice, studded with icebergs. JohnJacobAstorIV.jpg|John Jacob Astor IV. ColonelArchie2.jpg|Archibald Butt. Titanicsinking.jpg|A drawing of how Titanic sank. Drawn by a survivor of the sinking. drgoerdelerpainting.jpg|Dr. Robert Daniel Goerdeler